Ariana Savalas (born January 9, 1987) is an American singer, songwriter, burlesque performer, and comedienne. She is the daughter of film and TV actor Telly Savalas. Savalas is a resident headlining performer and emcee for Postmodern Jukebox.<ref name="Variety"/> She tours with the band and has appeared in a number of the group's YouTube videos.<ref name="Slate Criminal PMJ 2015"/><ref name="Huffpo PMJ 2014"/><ref name="PMJ Australia Yahoo News"/><ref name="Parade Magazine PMJ"/> Often referred to as The Pussycat, Savalas is known for her risqué on-stage music and comedy.<ref name="Broadway World"/> She has been called the modern day Mae West, fusing her original songs with elements of traditional vaudeville and burlesque. <ref name="Broadway World PMJ"/>

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Early years

Savalas was born in Los Angeles in 1987 but was raised in Minnesota following her father's death in 1994.<ref name=PBPulse/> She studied Shakespeare and acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and is a member of Playhouse West, a repertory theater directed by Jeff Goldblum.<ref name="BBW 2010"/> Before turning to jazz, Savalas toured and recorded in Europe as a pop singer in her teens with European producer Jack White.<ref name="AllMusic Bio"/> She also released her first original song "Perfect Man" independently in 2012, the video featuring Eric Dane from Grey's Anatomy.<ref name="Perfect Man Greek Reporter"/> She worked as an actress, cast as the title role in the independent feature film Miriam (2006) and made a guest appearance as Bobby Lainsford on the CBS hit drama Criminal Minds in 2010. Savalas starred as Zoe in her second feature, Akrasia (2009), directed Xavier Tartakiewicz.<ref name="AllMusic Bio"/><ref name="Akrasia (2009)"/> Savalas began her music career in Los Angeles as a singer/songwriter playing venues on the Sunset Strip,<ref name="Variety 2007"/> such as the Whisky a Go-Go and Hard Rock Cafe, before quickly transitioning into jazz. Her first jazz EP, "Sophisticated Lady", is a combination of Savalas' original compositions as well as two standards from the Great American Songbook, including the song Sophisticated Lady by Duke Ellington, Mitchell Parish, and Irving Mills which she named the record after.<ref name="arcadia"/>

Jazz and Burlesque

Savalas was widely known in the cabaret world headlining in venues such as the New York Friars' Club, Michael Feinstein's late New York cabaret Feinstein's, the Royal Room in Palm Beach, and Palm Desert's McCallum Theatre.<ref name="hellenic"/> Her solo performances are a showcase of music, songwriting, dance, comedy, and burlesque.<ref name="Maxim"/> Since her departure from cabaret, Savalas tours with her solo act and with Postmodern Jukebox as a headlining artist and their first female emcee. They have performed at notable venues such as Radio City Music Hall and the 02 Academy in London.<ref name="Radio City"/>

<ref name="BBW 2010">BWW News Desk (1 March 2010). "Ariana Savalas Comes To The Metropolitan Room 3/19". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved 11 April 2016. After touring Europe, Ariana was accepted by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London to study Shakespeare and acting. Following her RADA training, she moved to Los Angeles to work with Robert Carnegie at the prestigious Playhouse West Theater, planning to return to London in the fall of that year. After just one month in Los Angeles, with no previous professional acting experience, she auditioned for and won the title role of Miriam Shafer in the feature film?Miriam,?a true story of a Lithuanian Holocaust survivor. The part required the 18-year-old Ariana to play a grueling range of emotions while portraying Miriam from age 15 through 50 years old. Her most recent film is Akrasia by Polish director Xavier Tatarkiewicz.?</ref>